Information inquiry to provide cell phone parental control

ABSTRACT

A method for allowing remote control of the usage of a networked wireless device including incoming communications, outgoing communications, and application launching. Controlling entities, such as parent cellular telephones or web sites, are provided with the ability to select a list of approved anytime incoming communications, or approved incoming and outgoing communications based on time and day. Incoming communications include text messaging and telephone calls. Further, the controlling entity is provided with the ability to reroute to the controlling entity any usage of the wireless device such as incoming communications, outgoing communications, and application launching. Access to usage logs of the wireless device is provided to the controlling entity.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No.60/481,428, filed Sep. 26, 2003, the content of which is incorporated byreference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND OF THE DISCLOSURE

1. Field of the Disclosure

The present disclosure relates to communication systems and methods withmonitoring and control functions. In particular, it relates tocommunication systems with parental control and supervision of a child'swireless device usage.

2. State of the Art

There are several concerns preventing parents from purchasing cellulartelephones for their children. One concern is that the child will abuseher calling privileges by calling accidentally or inappropriatelyresulting in high bills. Another important concern is that an strangeradult may attempt to contact the child though her cellular telephonewithout the knowledge and consent of the parent. The natural fear is thestranger may be kidnapper or abuser. A further concern is that the childwill lose or misplace the handheld telephone device. An unauthorizeduser could potentially benefit from gratuitous telephone calls that theparent will have to ultimately pay.

Modern cellular telephones offer games and other entertainmentapplications. Parents may be hesitant to provide portable game platformsto children as the games might prove distracting during otheractivities.

Some cellular telephones are equipped with ground positioning system(GPS) microcontrollers providing information about the location of thecellular phone. GPS services might be used to help safeguard children,but currently the handsets are too expensive for mass-marketconsumption.

There are applications whereby a parent may specify a cap on the amountan account can spend per month. There are also systems that allowparents to program telephone numbers and universal remote locator (URL)links as forbidden or restricted call destinations.

While these systems provide a useful manner for controlling cellularphones, they generally present limitations that have not been addresseduntil now. The first and most impacting limitation is the inability ofthe current systems to allow the parent to control the incoming phonecalls. Parent may wish to limit incoming phone calls of adult strangersto protect their children from being victims of criminal activity, tolimit the distractions she gets from friends such as invitations to playgames on the internet, to alleviate a child from telemarketersinterruptions, or to simply reduce the total usage time of the child.

A second limitation of current systems is that they do not allow for atime-based control of telephone applications and calls. While previoussystems provided parents with the ability of restricting a number tocall, for instance, they did not provide parents with the ability torestrict those numbers for particular periods of time. A thirdlimitation of current systems is that they do not allow parents toaccess the call history of the child's telephone from the parents handheld device. A fourth limitation is that parents do not have the meansto reroute phone calls to their telephones based on certain criteria ofthe incoming call number or based on the time the call is made. Finally,yet another limitation is that current systems do not allow for parentto schedule events on their children's phones such as setting remindingmessages for the child.

SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE

A system and method for controlling usage of a wireless device, such asa personal data assistant (PDA) or a cellular telephone is disclosed.Usage of the wireless device encompasses outgoing and incomingcommunication as well as application usage. Outgoing or incomingcommunications may include electronic email, telephone calls, textmessaging, universal resource locator (URL) requests, etc. A controllingdevice is provided with software that allows it to control usage of thewireless device. The controlling device is, for instance, a telephone,PDA, or personal computer comprising an application which provides a wayto control the wireless device. In one embodiment, the application runson a controlling entity's wireless device. Alternatively, theapplication may be a web-based application. The system and method mayfor example be used by a controlling entity such as a parent, to controlor manage use of a child's cellular telephone.

In one embodiment, the software in the controlling entity allows theparent to schedule restrictions based on time by identifying periodswhen the child may make use of the wireless device. For example, callsmay be restricted based on time of day, such as during school hours, orday of the week, such as weekdays or weekends. The identified timerestrictions are then transmitted to a network database to which thecontrolled wireless device has access rights. The wireless device isalso provided with software that allows it to access the timerestrictions in the permission database. Once the information isaccessed, the software determines if the current time is within theallowed permitted times. Alternatively, the time restrictions imposed bythe controlling entity may also be transmitted directly to the wirelessdevice and stored in permission database residing in the wirelessdevice.

In another embodiment, incoming communication to a wireless device iscontrolled by a controlling entity. Incoming communication may becontrolled based upon an approved list of incoming communicationsources. Incoming communication sources include, for example, telephonenumbers, SMS addresses, email address, or other addresses. A totalrestriction may be imposed for receiving incoming calls in the wirelessdevice. The controlling device transmits the forbidden number or namecorresponding to the source of the call to the permission database. Thepermission database may reside in the network or in the wireless device.The wireless device then checks if the data corresponding to the sourceof the call is qualified in the permission database as a forbiddennumber. If so, the wireless device rejects an incoming communicationattempt from the forbidden source every time it is made.

Furthermore, the operator of the wireless device may request that aparticular incoming communication source be approved by the controllingentity. The controlling entity will receive the request and transmit thepermission or disallowance to the permission database. The permissiondatabase may reside in the network or in the wireless device. Thewireless device then checks the permission database and determineswhether it has permission to take the incoming call.

The usage of a wireless device may also be rerouted to the controllingdevice. Usage of the wireless device encompasses outgoing and incomingcommunication as well as application usage. Once a certain use has beenrestricted, the software in the wireless device reroutes the use to thecontrolling device. For instance, if it receives an incoming phone call,the incoming phone call will be rerouted to the controlling device if itis time-restricted or forbidden. If the wireless device receives anattempt to launch an application, and the application usage is forbiddenor restricted at the time of the attempt, the wireless device willforward the attempt to the controlling entity notifying that an attemptto launch the application was made.

In yet another embodiment, a controlling entity is capable of viewingusage information of a wireless device.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The disclosure will be better understood and objects, other than thoseset forth above, will become apparent when consideration is given to thefollowing detailed description. Such description makes reference to theaccompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 shows a component diagram of a parental control system in anillustrative embodiment incorporating features of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 2 shows a flow diagram of a parental control system for restrictingincoming calls to a wireless device in an illustrative embodimentincorporating features of the present disclosure.

FIG. 3 shows a flow diagram of a parental control system for receivingapproved incoming calls to a wireless device in an illustrativeembodiment incorporating features of the present disclosure.

FIG. 4 shows a flow diagram of a parental control system for timerestricting a particular use of a wireless device in an illustrativeembodiment incorporating features of the present disclosure.

FIG. 5 shows a flow diagram of a parental control system for attemptinga particular use that has been time-restricted in wireless device in anillustrative embodiment incorporating features of the presentdisclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following description, numerous specific details are set forth inorder to provide a more thorough disclosure. It will be apparent,however, to one skilled in the art, that the art disclosed may bepracticed without these specific details. In some instances, well-knownfeatures may have not been described in detail so as not to obscure theart disclosed.

There is at least a method and system to remotely control the usage of awireless device. Usage of the wireless device includes incomingcommunication, outgoing communication, and wireless device applicationusage. A common situation that benefits from the remote control of awireless device is where parents want to control their children's usageof wireless devices.

Communication Between Devices

The present disclosure is enabled by a system of communication betweenthe controlling device (e.g. parent device) and the wireless device(e.g. child device). In one embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1, acontrolling device, namely a parent device 100, sends a controllingmessage to a child device 150. An SMS client 110 residing on the parentdevice generates a coded SMS message. The parent device sends thegenerated SMS message to a hosting SMSC (Short Message Service Center)120. In turn, the SMSC routes the message to the message server 130. Themessage contains routing and destination information. The message server130 is a program running on a separate computing device. The messageserver 130 verifies, via a database 140 that the sending entity isauthorized to request data from the child device 150. The message server130 then forwards the message via the SMSC 120 to the child device 150.

An SMS client in the child device 150 examines all incoming SMSmessages. When a properly coded SMS message arrives, the SMS sniffer onthe child device 130 decides which application the message isrequesting. The appropriate application is launched in the child deviceand passes to that application the appropriate data encoded within theincoming SMS string from the parent device 100.

The client application then examines the request embedded in the SMSstring and decides how it should react to the incoming request. Thisprogram is configured to access and edit files contained within thehandset, including memory cards and other peripherals. Based on therequest, the program can modify files, set device attributes orsettings. It can also read information stored in the device, collate itand send it back to the parent device 100. If desired, these programscan make themselves visible to the owner of the child device 150 by wayof alerts or requests for input.

Control of Incoming Communication

According to one embodiment, the parent device controls the settings forincoming communication to the child device. Incoming communications mayconstitute phone calls, short message service (SMS) text messages, etc.

In one embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2, a parent may choose to limitincoming calls to their child by making sure the child may only receivecalls at anytime from approved numbers. As way of example, a mother maycontrol what incoming text messages her daughter Amy receives. She mayadd Sue's telephone number—Amy's best friend—to a list of allowedincoming communications. To do so, the mother selects an iconrepresenting her daughter's device 210 and further selects the option“Add New Phone Number” 220. She then inputs Sue's name 230 and number240. In addition, she checks options to allow text messages 250 as wellas phone calls to be received by Amy's device 260. Subsequently sheconfirms the settings. An SMS message is sent to Amy's device which addsSue's telephone number to the list of authorized incoming phone numbers270. Now Amy can receive text messages from Sue. The parent may alsocontrol whether the child device displays a notification that apreviously unauthorized incoming number is now authorized 280.

In FIG. 3, the child device receives an incoming communication 310. OnAmy's handset there is an embedded list or database of authorizedincoming numbers. When a communication attempt is received on the childdevice, an associated phone number is also received with thecommunication attempt 315. The handset receiver program checks thenumber received in the list of authorized incoming numbers 320. If thenumber is in the list (e.g. Sue's number), the communication is received350. Otherwise the communication is rejected 330. The parent may alsocontrol whether the child device displays a notification that anunauthorized incoming communication attempt has been rejected 340.

In another embodiment, as shown in FIG. 4, a parent may approve orrestrict incoming communication during specified periods of time. Forinstance, Amy's mother may approve incoming text messaging from Sue onlyduring non-school hours, and further, she may approve incoming phonecalls only during the weekends. To do so, the mother selects an iconrepresenting her daughter's device 410 and further selects the option“Set authorized incoming communication times” 420. She then selects froma list of preauthorized phone numbers selecting he daughters' friend Sue430. The mother the selects the days in the week incoming calls from Sueare permitted 440. Further, she enters the times in the day at whichcalls may be allowed 450. In addition, she enters a schedule forauthorized incoming text messages 460. Subsequently she confirms thesettings. An SMS message is sent to Amy's device which sets the incomingcall authorized schedule for Sue's telephone number 470. The parent mayalso control whether the child device displays a notification that apreviously authorized incoming number is now time-restricted 480.

Yet, in another embodiment, a parent may approve incoming communicationupon the request of the child. In the situation where a child has atelephone number she wants to add to her device as an authorizedincoming number, a message is sent to the parent who may then approve ordisallow the phone number. The message may be in the form of an SMSmessage between telephones, be sent to a designated email address, or bedisplayed on a central administrative web site used by the parents. Theparent can then approve or decline to approve the phone number via theparent device. This response is sent back to the child device. The newnumber is added to the list of authorized calling if it was approved bythe parent. For instance Amy's mother may approve incoming telephonecalls from Sue after Amy requests permission to receive Sue's devicecalls.

In another embodiment, a parent may specifically forbid a particularnumber to ever be received as an incoming communication to the childdevice. The parent can give the device to a child with the peace of mindthat comes from knowing that the child will not be put at risk byallowing the child to communicate with strangers.

In yet another embodiment, a parent may reroute any incomingunauthorized communication with the child device. The communicationattempt is rerouted to the parent device or a parent-supervisedanswering service. Unauthorized communications include specificallyforbidden numbers, communications from time-restricted numbers callingoutside the window of authorization, unknown numbers, etc.

As FIG. 5 demonstrates, when a communication attempt is received on thechild device 510, an associated phone number is also received with thecommunication attempt 520. The handset receiver program checks thenumber received in the list of authorized incoming numbers. If thenumber is not in the list 530, or is not an authorized time forreceiving the call 540, or is specifically forbidden 550, thecommunication and a message 560, 570, or 580 is then forwarded to theparent device, provided that the rerouting option is set on the childdevice. The parent may also control whether the child device displays anotification that an unauthorized incoming communication attempt hasbeen rerouted 595.

In another embodiment, a parent may access a history log of authorizedand unauthorized incoming communications. The parent would be able tosee incoming phone numbers that were answered, rejected, or rerouted andthe corresponding times.

Control of Outgoing Communication

According to one embodiment, the parent device controls the settings foroutgoing communication from the child device. Outgoing communicationsmay constitute phone calls, short message service (SMS) text messages,URL requests, etc.

A parent may approve or restrict outgoing communication during specifiedperiods of time. For instance, Amy's mother may approve outgoing textmessaging from Amy's friend, Sue, only during non-school hours, andfurther, she may approve outgoing phone calls only during the weekends.As FIG. 4 shows, the mother selects an icon representing her daughter'sdevice 410 and further selects the option “Set authorized outgoingcommunication times” 420. She then selects from a list of preauthorizedphone numbers selecting he daughters' friend Sue 430. The mother thenselects the days in the week outgoing calls to Sue are permitted 440.Further, she enters the times in the day at which calls may be made 450.In addition, she may enter a schedule for authorized outgoing textmessages 460. Subsequently she confirms the settings. An SMS message issent to Amy's device which sets the outgoing call authorized schedulefor Sue's telephone number 470. The parent may also control whether thechild device displays a notification that a previously authorizedoutgoing number is now time-restricted 480. Finally, the parent may alsocontrol whether the time restriction applies to one phone number in thelist or to multiple numbers in the list.

On the child device resides a database containing a list of authorizedoutgoing numbers. The parent device or web site can add or deletenumbers from this list via a messaging system such as SMS. When a phonenumber is selected on the child device and the child attempts toinitiate the call, the handset dialing program checks the current numberentered against the list of valid numbers. If it finds the number, thedialing program then checks the time and date at which the dialed numbercan be called or sent a message. If the current time and date fallswithin the permitted time and date the child device completes the call.If it does not fall within the permission window, the child devicedisplays an alert indicating that it is not a valid time to call. Theparent may also control whether the child device sends a notification tothe parent device that an unauthorized outgoing communication attempthas been rejected.

In yet another embodiment, a parent may reroute any outgoingunauthorized communication from the child device. The communicationattempt is rerouted to the parent device or a parent-supervisedanswering service. Unauthorized communications may include specificallyforbidden numbers, communications occurring outside the window ofauthorization, unknown numbers, etc. When a communication attemptoriginates on the child device, the dialing program checks the numberdialed in the list of authorized outgoing numbers. If the number is notin the list, or is not an authorized time for making the call, thecommunication is then forwarded to the parent device, provided that thererouting option is set on the child device. The parent may also controlwhether the child device displays a notification that the unauthorizedoutgoing communication attempt has been rerouted.

In another embodiment, a parent may access a history log of authorizedand unauthorized outgoing communications from the child device. Theparent would be able to see outgoing numbers that were connected,rejected, or rerouted and the corresponding times.

In yet another embodiment of controlling outgoing communication, aparent may schedule a communication from the child device to the parentdevice. For example the parent may schedule a communication from thechild device everyday after school is over. The communication could bean SMS message or a phone call. The parent can also sign up to receivewireless alerts on his device when his child has spent a set amount ofmoney making phone calls or messaging.

Control of Applications Usage

According to one embodiment, the parent device controls the settings forusage of applications on the child device such as games.

In another embodiment, a parent may approve or restrict the usage ofapplications during specified periods of time. The approved times anddates are then associated with these applications. The parent managesthe application usage through a communication system such as SMS. Theparent can request a list of the current applications available on thechild device. Then, from a web or handset interface they may associatethe appropriate day, time and recurrence data. This data is then sent tothe child handset and stored in the embedded application list which iscontained in a database.

As illustrated in FIG. 6, the application or operating system thatreceives the request to launch the application first examines the dataassociated with that application 610. The application launcher retrievesthe permitted times associated with the requested application 620 andcompares the current time and date 630. The current time is providedthrough the handset's operating system or time and date data retrievedvia Internet or WAP protocols. If the launcher determines that theapplication is outside of the permitted usage window the program willnot run. Instead, the holder of the child device will be informed thatthe application (e.g. game) is locked-out for the time being 650.Otherwise the application will be launched 640. For instance, Amy'smother may approve using the web browser during the weekend and disallowits usage during the weekdays.

In another embodiment, the application list and associated lockout timesare stored on a server. When the child handset attempts to run anapplication, the launcher program in the device first loads theapplication management data via Internet Protocol, WAP or othercommunication interfaces. It then checks the current time and dateagainst this data to determine whether the parent device has locked outthis application.

In yet another embodiment, a parent may reroute any unauthorized attemptto launch an application on the child device. If the rerouting option isset on the child device, the launching attempt is rerouted to the parentdevice as a form of communication message telling the parent that thechild device is attempting to launch a given application.

In another embodiment, a parent may access a history log of authorizedand unauthorized launching of applications on the child device. Theparent would be able to see outgoing numbers that were connected,rejected, or rerouted and the corresponding times.

In yet another embodiment of controlling application launching, a parentmay schedule the launching of an application for a specific purpose.From a web or phone interface, the parent can schedule automated SMSreminders or reminder phone calls. For instance, if the child has apiano lesson Wednesday after school, he gets a reminder weekly at 2:30PM every Wednesday.

Although certain illustrative embodiments and methods have beendisclosed herein, it will be apparent form the foregoing disclosure tothose skilled in the art that variations and modifications of suchembodiments and methods may be made without departing from the truespirit and scope of the art disclosed. Many other examples of the artdisclosed exist, each differing from others in matters of detail only.For instance,

Similarly, it will be apparent to one skilled in the art, that thewireless devices may be a cell phone or any other SMS enabled device.Thus the nature of the wireless network on which it runs is irrelevantas long as it enables communication among the wireless devices. Othercommunication protocols may be used such as Code Division MultipleAccess wireless networks (CDMA) or Global System for Mobile networks(GSM, GSM/GPRS), Enhanced Data-Rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE) network,Universal Mobile Telecommunications Service (UMTS) network, WidebandCode Division Multiple Access (W-CDMA) network, Time Division MultipleAccess (TDMA) network, iDen or any network offering SMS or dataconnections such as TCP/IP.

Likewise, custom SMS client(s) resident in the device may be implementedin any standard computing language such as C, C++, Java, Java 2 MicroEdition, Brew, SIM Toolkit or written for Symbian or other softwareplatform.

Furthermore, rather than SMS transport, communication can be throughTCP/IP, WAP (Wireless Application Protocol), WAP Push, HTTP or othere-mail, Internet or mobile communication protocols. Also, forapplications that do not require a high level of security, the messagetransport could be sent directly between two handsets, rather than goingthrough the intermediary message server.

Finally, it will also be apparent to one skilled in the art that controlof the child device by a parent device may be applicable to othersituations where usage control is necessary such as employer devicecontrolling an employee device.

Accordingly, it is intended that the art disclosed shall be limited onlyto the extent required by the appended claims and the rules andprinciples of applicable law.

1-69. (canceled)
 70. A method of supervisory control of a wirelesscommunication device by a supervisory control device, the methodcomprising: receiving a first Short Message Service (SMS) message by thewireless communication device from the supervisory control device,wherein the first SMS message includes an instruction from thesupervisory control device for the wireless communication device;examining the instruction in the first SMS message from the supervisorycontrol device by the wireless communication device to determine a taskinstructed by the supervisory control device; determining the task to beproviding information from the wireless communication device to thesupervisory control device; accessing the information stored in thewireless communication device by the wireless communication device inresponse to the instruction in the first SMS message from thesupervisory control device; retrieving the information stored in thewireless communication device by the wireless communication device inresponse to the instruction in the first SMS message from thesupervisory control device; generating a second SMS message by thewireless communication device, wherein the second SMS message includesthe information; and transmitting the second SMS message including theinformation by the wireless communication device to the supervisorycontrol device.
 71. The method of claim 70, wherein the informationincludes a history log of the wireless communication device.
 72. Themethod of claim 71, wherein the history log includes a list ofauthorized calls received by the wireless communication device.
 73. Themethod of claim 71, wherein the history log includes a list ofunauthorized calls restricted from being received by the wirelesscommunication device.
 74. The method of claim 71, wherein the historylog includes a list of authorized calls placed by the wirelesscommunication device.
 75. The method of claim 71, wherein the historylog includes a list of unauthorized calls restricted from being placedby the wireless communication device.
 76. The method of claim 71,wherein the history log includes a list of unauthorized applicationsrestricted from being launched by the wireless communication device. 77.The method of claim 71, wherein the history log includes a list ofunauthorized e-mails restricted from being received by the wirelesscommunication device.
 78. The method of claim 71, wherein the historylog includes a list of unauthorized SMS messages restricted from beingreceived by the wireless communication device.